Crime Report: Peeping in Bathroom Stalls Edition

In this week’s Arlington County crime report, a 70-year-old man, identified as a registered sex offender from California, is accused of “peeping into bathroom stalls” in the Ballston area.

PEEPING TOM-ARREST, 12/02/11, 4200 block of Wilson Boulevard. On December 2 at 1 pm, a man was witnessed peeping into bathroom stalls. Clyde Medeiros, 70, of Napa, CA, was charged with Peeping and for Violation of a Registered Sex Offender. He was held without bond.

Also this week, a driver was assaulted when he tried to confront a pedestrian who kicked his car in Clarendon.

ASSAULT AND BATTERY, 12/05/11, 1100 block of N. Hudson Street. On December 5 at 9:50 pm, a pedestrian kicked a passing vehicle. When the driver exited the car, the pedestrian assaulted him. The suspect is described as man with a medium complexion, 6’ tall, wearing a black jacket, jeans, and carrying a black book bag with a white antler design on it.

An additional item of note: two young women are accused of robbing a man after being invited back to his hotel on Columbia Pike.

ROBBERY-ARREST, 12/02/11, 3000 block of Columbia Pike. On December 2 at 10:20 pm, a man invited three women back to his hotel. One of the women stole his wallet and when confronted, assaulted him. Two of the suspects were located by police. Sarah Jordan, 24, and Savannah Grant, 21, both of Arlington, were charged with Robbery. They were held without bond.

All suspects are innocent until proven guilty. The rest of this week’s crime report, after the jump.

COMMERCIAL BURGLARY, 12/03/11, 3100 block of Columbia Pike. Between 5:30 pm on December 2, and 1:20 am on December 3, an unknown group of suspects stole televisions and liquor from a restaurant. There is no suspect description.

MALICIOUS WOUNDING, 12/01/11, 4200 block of N. Pershing Drive. On December 1 at 1:30 pm, a man threw a glass jar at a restaurant cashier and then assaulted him. Charles Jones, Jr., 48, of no fixed address, was charged with Malicious Wounding and Petit Larceny. He was held without bond.

ROBBERY-ARREST, 12/05/11, 3700 block of Columbia Pike. On December 5 at 12:30 am, a man was robbed by three young men brandishing a handgun. One suspect was apprehended. Ahmed Mahmoud, 18, of Arlington, was charged with Robbery and held without bond.

ROBBERY, 12/05/11, 1300 block of S. Lynn Street. On December 5 at 11 pm, a woman was walking when two unknown men ran up behind her and stole her purse while assaulting her. The suspects are described as young African American men, and one suspect was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt.

BANK ROBBERY, 11/29/11, 900 block of N. Stuart Street. On November 29 at noon, an unknown man entered a bank. He displayed a handgun and demanded money. He fled after receiving cash. The suspect is described as a white male, 5’7” to 5’9” with a thin build. He wore a gray hooded sweatshirt pulled up over his head, a baseball hat and a black vest.

BURGLARY, 12/02/11, 4300 block of N. Pershing Drive. On December 2 between 2:40 am an 4 am, a man attempted to enter an apartment twice through a window. The suspect is believed to be a former tenant.

BURGLARY, 12/06/11, 4200 block of Campbell Avenue. Between 5 pm on December 5, and 9 am on December 6, an unknown person broke into an unoccupied apartment through the front door. There are no known suspects.

BURGLARY, 12/05/11, 1800 block of N. Danville Street. On December 5 between 8:45 am and 5:40 pm, an unknown subject broke into a house and stole electronics. There is no suspect description.

BURGLARY, 12/06/11, 1800 block of S. Grant Street. On December 6 between 8 am and 8 pm, an unknown subject broke into a house and stole various items. There are no known suspects.

BURGLARY, 12/06/11, 1700 block of S. Lynn Street. On December 6 between 8:45 am and 10 pm, an unknown person broke into a residence and stole various items. There is no suspect description.

COMMERCIAL BURGLARY (SERIES), 12/01/11, 1100 block of S. Hayes Street. Between 9 pm on November 30, and 9 am on December 1, an unknown subject broke into two stores in a mall. Money was taken from each store. There are no known suspects.

ATTEMPT BURGLARY, 12/05/11, 700 block of N. Nelson Street. On December 5 at 7:20 pm, a resident heard someone attempt to enter his apartment through window. The suspect ran off and there is no description.

ATTEMPT BURGLARY, 12/05/11, 3100 block of N. 18th Street. On December 5 between 5 pm and 6:30 pm, an unknown person attempted to enter a house by breaking a window. Entry was not gained. There are no known suspects.

ATTEMPT BURGLARY, 12/06/11, 2800 block of N. Van Buren Street. Between 4 pm on December 5, and 8:40 am on December 6, an unknown person attempted to enter a house through a basement window. There are no known suspects.

LARCENY FROM AUTO (SERIES), 12/07/11, 1400 block of S. Barton Street. On December 7 between midnight and 4 am, an unknown person broke into at least two cars on the same block. There is no suspect description.

Several police cars responded to 1801 Crystal Drive on Saturday night, 12/3. The entrance to the parking garage was actually blocked for a time. Haven’t been able to get any info…anybody know what went down?

G

The driver probably deserved it.

SomeGuy

G, please be more specific.

speonjosh

Is your screen name a reference to that time many years ago when Jim Vance came on to do the teaser for the 11 o’clock news and all he said was “Some guy breaks into a car. News at 11.” (Or words to that effect but the point being that he used the phrase “some guy” to reference the subject of the story. I was appalled and whatever tiny shred of respect I had for him went out the window.)

If not, then please ignore my personal hangup….

SomeGuy

I have no idea what you’re talking about, speonjosh. So no, it’s not a reference to that.

CrystalMikey

Why were you appalled? That’s funny, especially coming from Vance.

G

The guy who got his car kicked.

JamesE

No one deserves getting their car kicked, purposely damaging a car (like keying) should be punishable by death.

that’s our steve!

Unless it’s an automatic. Those deserve to be kicked.

Bluemontsince1961

LOL!

SomeGuy

Got that, G. I was more curious about which unpublished facts from the case made you say “the driver probably deserved it.”

G

I realize I don’t have enough facts, but I’d be willing to bet that the driver probably cut off the pedestrian while rushing to turn right on red, into a crosswalk with a walk signal. It happens far too often in Arlington. It happens to me at least once a day.

SomeGuy

If it happens to you at least once a day, I think there’s a chance you also probably deserve it.

G

Drivers rarely look right when they are turning right. And if they do, they try to race to turn before I get there – cutting me off.

Ed Pestrian

I walk all the time and what G says very frequently happens to me as well. Drivers, when turning right on red, have a tendency to keep looking left for cars while they accelerate into the turn. Legally walking across the street, I am often in a dangerous position for those first couple of seconds crossing in their “blind” spot.

NoVapologist

I’m with G and Ed – Drivers ignoring/cutting-off/nearly running down pedestrians happens with great frequency. I have been known to give a car a thump on the trunk if it nearly hits me.

SomeGuy

I’m not challenging your assertion that drivers are sometimes oblivious and/or rude. It’s true. And I wouldn’t challenge the same assertion about pedestrians either. Or cyclists. Or dog owners. Or people on metro escalators. Or even people who jump to conclusions that a person “probably deserved” to be assaulted.

OX4

Cars cut me off in the crosswalk on both red and green lights. I also thump their drunk with the palm of my hand. Makes a nice horrific sound and they have no idea where it came from.

SomeGuy

OX4, if you consider these cars to be cutting you off when the lights are both red and green, under what conditions do you personally NOT have the right of way? Brief yellows? Just curious.

Ed Pestrian

Some Guy-
Being inconsiderate as a walker, escalator rider, dog owner, cyclist, whatever does not directly put other people’s lives at risk the way being “rude” as a driver does. When someone’s physical well-being is threatened by an oblivious driver, it is understandable that they react with a more aggressive response. Assault, I agree, is taking things too far, but a driver getting out of his car to confront the person who kicked his car as a reaction to almost being run over, is more absurd to me.

Everyone could stand to relax, but I appreciate how hard it is to relax as a pedestrian when people in cars are so frequently reckless.

SomeGuy

Ed Pestrian –
Thank you for the kind response. If you read my writings on this topic carefully, you’ll notice that I do not excuse aggressive or rude behavior by drivers. I also do not try to quantify the damage of the various types of rudeness mentioned (e.g., what you are doing when you state that rude drivers are worse than rude dog owners, driver is more absurd than pedestrian, etc.).

Instead, I am merely objecting to the assertion that since both you and G have had this happen to you in the past with other drivers, that the driver mentioned in this police report is both at fault and deserving of being assaulted.

I’m not sure which part of that is getting lost on you guys.

OX4

SomeGuy — and what point, and at what color light, does a driver have the right of way when turning right?

SomeGuy

OX4, it wasn’t clear to me that you were talking specifically about right turns on red/green. I realized it after I posted though. Makes more sense now.

CourthouseChris

Just got to laugh at a guy that invites three women back to his room AT THE DAYS INN, and gets robbed. I kinda wish they got away with it.

JamesE

Big spender at the days inn, don’t be jealous.

KalashniKEV

Whatever. It’s cost effective and expedient.

CourthouseChris

For the guy or the women that robbed him?

Ghetto Ho

I prefer La Quinta.

Reggie Jackson

If you must get out of your car to confront some idiot who has kicked your car, don’t forget to pull the Louisville Slugger out from behind the seat. This will help ward off as assault by same idiot.

The Gov..

I’m with “G”, the driver probably deserved it. I have personally kicked about a dozen cars in the past 5 years. Once the cops came and the cop flat out said if he (me) kicked your car, you were too close. Guy was furious. Too many frat bitches driving their BMW’s, always nice when they say “I’m calling the cops”, my reply, “You do that, I’m gonna keep walking MF’er”

G

Haha. A friend of mine and I were running once and a driver in a van cut us off as we were crossing with the signal. My friend pounded on the van with his fist. The Arlington cops standing at the end of the crosswalk just smirked and pretended they didn’t see it as we continued past them.

Curious Goerge

I would think that the officer ignoring the failure to yield would be a a concern.

Clarendon Cruiser

I’m with “G” also and am “guilty” of kicking in a hubcap. Please arrest me.

Clarendon Cruiser

…but I’ll also ask why are the Police not handing out citations for drivers who don’t obey the traffic rules at these stops?

OX4

Well, the Pentagon Police, for their part, are too busy themselves cutting off pedestrians in Crystal City.

Stillwell87

As a Pentagon City resident, I couldn’t agree with this statement more!

G

I did witness an officer grab a license plate # off a guy that cut me off and almost hit me once. Not sure if he ever followed up with it though.

Michelle

Re: Car kicking…

I don’t know the backstory, but too many pedestrians around here j-walk, don’t look, cross side walks on the “RED HAND” thing, etc. If the driver’s car was kicked when a ped had the right away, fine. But if some idiot was just playing on his iphone and didn’t bother to look for traffic, I feel no pain for the person walking. I’m actually sick of this tomfoolery.

CW

If the ped did not have right of way, that means that the car would have been traveling, on green, perpendicular to the ped’s path. That means he would have had to kick a car moving perpendicular to him at 25-30 mph. Pretty hard to do. My money is that he had ROW and was cut off.

Newbs

Protected turn? I’ve had many walk out in front of me while driving where I have a protected turn and it is a red for them. Also had other pedestrians snark at me for standing and waiting for the ROW and they go on the red. This instances do happen. Look at downtown Silver Spring where not only were they fining drivers for their driving around non-motorists but also nailing pedestrians, cyclists, etc for their incompetencies.

Reality Based

Look at downtown Silver Spring

Filled with MD drivers, so of course it’s a clusterf*ck.

Newbs

Seriously, let’s drop the VA-MD-DC driver hate. I’ve lived in all three, plus AZ and HI. There are crazy ass suckitude drivers and awesome drivers in all three. Especially with an area inside the beltway like SS or Arlington, there is going to be such overlap. In SS they were getting MD, DC, and VA drivers for doing all the same stupid things. Same I’m sure for the pedestrians getting off the metro and heading towards Discovery. The bigger point is the enforcement of laws needs to apply to everyone at all times and EVERYONE needs to begin paying more attention thinking about how they travelling and the rules and laws they need to follow. If people would bother to think before acting then the vast majority of these incidents would disappear.

Hmm could be

I understand that pedestrians have a responsibility to pay attention and cross the streets at intersections. I hate to tell you though that pedestrians always have the right of way.

Newbs

Yes, they do. Just because you have ROW does that mean it’s smart to go against the red hand just because you think you can make the gap? No. There is a reason the hand is red. I’ve worked for Departments of Transportation in ped safety issues and just because they have the ROW doesn’t give them a right to just dart through traffic willy-nilly AND assume that they can always make it. It’s a game of Russian roulette. Therefore, I will continue to wait for the hand to switch to the Walk sign and the rest of you can laugh at me.

bobco85

Referring to the assault on a driver after his car was kicked, both parties were at fault here. Details are important here, like the fact it occurred at nighttime.

The driver is at fault for a few reasons. He may/may not have cut off the pedestrian or done some other stupid thing putting the pedestrian in danger. He also decided to get out of his car at nighttime to confront a stranger, a risky decision in this case as he put his life in danger. He was lucky to get out of this situation alive.

The pedestrian is at fault for a few reasons, too. Obviously, he assaulted the driver. He was wearing a “black jacket, jeans, and carrying a black book bag with a white antler design on it.” By wearing dark clothing at night, he made himself more difficult to see, especially by drivers. When he crossed the street, it is not confirmed whether he was in a crosswalk, jaywalking, crossing with/without a walk/don’t walk signal, etc. so he could be at fault for that. Lastly, he did not control his emotions when he kicked the car and would be liable if he had damaged the car.

While we wait for more details, I can at least say that both people involved made immature decisions.

SomeGuy

bobco85, I think that’s a fair assessment.

I wasn’t trying to get to the bottom of who was at fault, and I’m pretty sure no one here knows the answer, myself included. That was kind of my point though. And that’s why I noted the original poster’s rush to judgment, which appeared to be more about axe grinding against drivers than being thoughtful or relevant to the topic. And no, I’m not new around here, so perhaps I should know better.

Vinh An Nguyen

Obviously, he assaulted the driver.

I don’t see anything “obvious” about it. It would seem that this is the driver’s story. We have yet to hear from the alleged suspect.

jack

It’s fascinating what gets people riled up here.

CrystalMikey

Everything?

OX4

You know Jack, that comment really p*sses me off.

CarsSuck

drivers who cut off pedestrians or block the box deserve to get their car kicked. There’s not enough cops enforcing the traffic laws, and a small ticket will usually not change that aggressive behavior. But a little love tap on a fresh Range Rover, have fun paying that deductible. That’s your penalty for being a jackass, pay up. Now getting out of your car, possibly looking for a fight, sounds like this guy deserved to get stomped. Finally, a win for pedestrians everywhere!

dirty biker

CarsSuck I’m with you on this- if the driver jumped out and became verbally abusive with the ped and then got stomped for their trouble I feel that a valuable lesson (or two) has been learned- 1) Don’t run over peds; 2) Don’t confront 6′ tall dudes with stags on their backpacks…

Here we don’t know the facts, but if the ped was endangered during a legal crossing and kicked the car as a warning and then was verbally assaulted, I’d think that the subsequent pummeling could be considered self defense. The driver used the car either recklessly or deliberately as a weapon, and with that “weapon” still in their possession, aggressively (assumption) confronted the same ped…

JamesE

I am going to kick your fixed gear bike

dirty biker

Ha!

I’ve thought that one through after a few “chats” with aggressive drivers- I’m definitely in better shape than they are, am wearing a helmet, have stiff carbon shoes with pointy cleats, and if things get really ugly have a 48 tooth chain ring of doom connected to a metal shield (frame). Add that I’m 6’3″ and an ex rugby player and I figure that were someone to take a swing at me I would *absolutely* “win.”

I’m not an aggressive guy so I’d never engage first but I would defend myself with gusto (and then sit on the driver until police arrived).